


Those Damn Parachutes

by sparkly_butthole



Series: Stucky tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of parachutes, Steve's stupidity, Supersoldiers getting emotional, Supersoldiers in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 19:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11813013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkly_butthole/pseuds/sparkly_butthole
Summary: “So. Tell me, Steve.”Uh-oh. That voice never means anything good. Suddenly, Steve feels nine years old again, doing stupid shit like chasing sixteen year old bullies into dark alleys.“I hear you like jumpin’ outta planes without parachutes.”Double uh-oh.





	Those Damn Parachutes

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Augusts challenge #9: An argument.

“So. Tell me, Steve.”

_ Uh-oh _ . That voice never means anything good. Suddenly, Steve feels nine years old again, doing stupid shit like chasing sixteen year old bullies into dark alleys.

“I hear you like jumpin’ outta planes without parachutes.”

_ Double uh-oh _ .

“Okay, but.” No use denying it. “That was. Once.”

“Nope!” Tony supplies from the common area, and well. There’s that. 

“You did it  _ twice? _ ”

He winces. “Uh, is there an answer that gets me out of trouble here?”

“Nope!” Tony yells again. “You’re totally busted!”

“Yeah, well, so… we should probably go back to our suite-”

“I should put you over my knee right here and now.”

Steve notes with interest that he’s instantly half-hard at the thought. Which wouldn’t be so bad if Bucky couldn’t literally  _ smell _ it. Super soldier serum has its drawbacks, after all. His lover’s eyebrows raise in an almost comical expression. 

Tony’s voice cuts in again. “I’d pay you a million bucks to let me watch that!”

Damn. Steve’s fully hard now. Today’s the kind of day, he figures, where he learns something unexpected about himself. And maybe about his relationship, as well.

“Let’s not do this here,” he pleads, and Bucky wordlessly stalks off toward the elevator, expecting him to follow. Which he does, obediently.

“Two million?”

“Fuck off, Stark!”

“I’ll fuck your shiny metal arm, Barnes!”

Steve’s thankful that Tony’s last little quip doesn’t fully sink in until the doors are closed.

 

Their floor of Stark Tower is dark, blackout curtains closed against the Manhattan night. Even though it’s only fall, Steve swears he feels the chill of the air- impossible in this climate controlled environment. 

Of course, that may just be the deep freeze he’s getting from his boyfriend.

Painful as this conversation was always going to be, now’s as good a time as any to have it, and besides, it isn’t like Bucky would let him get out of it anyway.

“So what’s up, Buck?” he asks, seemingly nonchalant, as soon as they are out of range of Jarvis’ permitted recording zone. 

Bucky gives him an unimpressed look.

“Stevie, I think we need to sit down for this discussion. Or you do, at least,” and he sounds dead serious, so Steve knows he’s in big trouble. Not that there’d be any doubt about that regardless of how Bucky sliced it at this point. He sighs and sits at the kitchen counter. This feels like a ‘you don’t get the comfy couch cushion’ kind of moment.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised, but frankly, I’m not.” This is where Bucky starts losing it, where the argument really gets going, as his lover begins to pull at his shoulder-length hair. “Why can’t you think about the fact that you’re not immortal from time to time, huh? Why do you always have to play the big flashy hero?”

“I guess I was never like you.” No reason not to be honest; he’s had years to psychoanalyze, after all. Years of therapists, years of self-reflection. “I never had that flair that made people pay attention to me-”

“Oh, so you still got somethin’ to prove, is that it?” Bucky’s raised his voice and started pacing their kitchen, a space larger than their entire first apartment had been. “You’re such a fucking punk.  _ Fuck! _ ” he yells, and kicks the other stool. It falls down with a clatter; Steve’s thankful Bucky pulled the kick enough not to break the damn thing. He’s spitting mad, more than Steve’s seen him since the ‘40s. Not counting the whole Winter Soldier freakout, of course, which was hardly within his control.

If Steve’s happy about anything in this moment, it’s that Bucky’s letting it out like he couldn’t do when they first brought him in. The Winter Soldier was never allowed any feelings of his own, so he knows this is pure James Buchanan Barnes. Beautiful, wonderful, whole- and mad as hell.

“Buck-”

“Don’t you get it, Steve, you monumental moron? You’ve got other people who are counting on you, a team. You wouldn’t let them do that shit, pull those stunts, would you?”

Steve doesn’t get the chance to answer. No point in trying, really. Bucky has to let this out.

“And I don’t know if you’re suicidal or what- hell, you’ve always been like this, you damn punk, I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you, if you’re messed up in the head or what, but your little martyr complex? It’s gonna get you killed. It always was. And then where would I be, huh?”

Steve’s hunkered down in his chair now, not really sure what to say, because here’s the crux of it. Right here. Steve was barely alive when he woke up in the new century, and not just in a literal sense. He could barely survive without Bucky, and even that was going through the motions more than anything. 

Then he found Bucky, and miraculously, now they’re together. And still he acts like… well, himself. Somehow, it never occurred to him what would happen to the love of his life if he really died.

“Where would I be without you, Steve?” Bucky whispers dejectedly, and that’s it, Steve  _ has _ to go to him, has to promise him, show him that he’s here now. That he’s alive and whole, that they both are. “Lost. Just lost.”

“No, hey. Shh, hey. Buck, I’m here. Right? I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”

They embrace, and this- this is everything Steve has ever wanted since 1936 when he realized he was bent as the day is long. Or more like, when he came to terms with it, because he realized he was in love with Buck. Instead of making him feel broken, that realization had made him feel whole. When Bucky was hauled to the Tower by Coulson’s team, Steve had taken the opportunity to finally admit it, what he’d have spent a lifetime regretting if he hadn’t. 

And wonder of all wonders, Bucky felt the same.

The warmth of his lover’s body chases out the chill of earlier, and soon it grows into a kiss, deep and full of promise. And if they both taste the salt of tears on each other’s lips, neither of them mentions it. 


End file.
